Everyone loves a comeback story. And this year, Broadway will celebrate one for the ages.
“Merrily We Roll Along,” a Stephen Sondheim show that has long been one of musical theater’s most famous failures, will solidify its long-sought redemption on Sunday by winning the Tony Award for best musical revival, according to my annual survey of of Tony voters. .
This week, I contacted, by phone or email, just over a quarter of Tony’s 836 voters and asked them how they voted. In a season in which many new musicals have admirers but none seem to have fully satisfied industry insiders, the race is tight, as are some of the key acting categories.
But “Merrily,” more than any show since “Hamilton,” won over not only the ticket-buying public, which made this production a significant success, but also the group of producers, investors, of writers, actors, designers and others. whose volunteer work or life is so involved in theater that they qualify as Tony voters.
The survey is not a scientific poll; some voters haven’t even voted yet. For the actual winners (and some singing and dancing, too), tune in Sunday for the awards ceremony, which begins at 8 p.m. Eastern on CBS and Paramount+ with Showtime. A preview featuring some of the awards will air on Pluto TV starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern, and we’ll be live blogging all evening at nytimes.com/theater.
In the meantime, here’s a look at what those surveyed are saying.
Best musical: “The Outsiders” could turn “Hell’s Kitchen” on its head.
“Hell’s Kitchen,” the Alicia Keys musical, is doing pretty well: good reviews, lots of media attention and the strongest sales of any new musical this season.
But it finds itself in a tough race for the coveted Tony Award for best musical, where its main competition is a stage adaptation of “The Outsiders,” which leads among those I surveyed, but not by a insurmountable margin.
Both shows have strengths and weaknesses. Many in the industry love the vocal performances and choreography of “Hell’s Kitchen,” but are less enamored with the storytelling. “The Outsiders,” based on the classic young adult novel about warring teenagers in Oklahoma, gets a lot of love for its vivid violence and brutal physical production, but less for its music. The attention to Keys appears to be a double-edged sword, helping to bring attention to “Hell’s Kitchen” but also making “The Outsiders” seem like an underdog.
Best play: “Stereophonic,” a drama with songs.
“Stereophonic,” David Adjmi’s behind-the-scenes drama about the making of an album by the feuding members of a five-person band, has received some of the best reviews of the season and seems certain to win the Tony Award. the best piece. .
The show, which features original songs by Will Butler, is favored by just over half of the voters I surveyed; the remaining votes were scattered among the other four nominees – “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” “Prayer for the French Republic,” “Mother Play” and “Mary Jane” – making it virtually impossible for any of them to vote them to surpass him.
“Stereophonic,” set in California in the 1970s, is the most nominated play in history, with 13 nominations, including Butler, director Daniel Aukin and five members of the play’s cast . Watch for the possibility that this play wins more Tony Awards than any musical on Sunday night.
Best musical cover: The race that isn’t really a race.
The current production of “Merrily We Roll Along” is such a sensation that it’s hard to remember that it wasn’t always this way. When the show debuted on Broadway in 1981, it was a debacle: poor reviews, a mystified audience, and closing just 12 days after opening.
No more. The current production, which opened last October and is scheduled to end July 7, regularly sells out, with high average ticket prices, and is one of the few shows in the 2023-24 season to become profitable. In March, the production announced that it had recouped its $12 million capitalization cost, and the producers filed investment documents indicating they were raising funds for a possible filming of the series.
The revival, directed by Maria Friedman, benefited enormously from the presence in the cast of Daniel Radcliffe, a box office success thanks to the “Harry Potter” films. Also significant: a resurgence of interest in Sondheim’s musicals after his death. Sondheim wrote the music and lyrics for the show, while the book is by George Furth.
There’s no contest in this category: Of those surveyed, three-quarters voted for “Merrily,” which is as close to unanimity as you can get. And revival star Jonathan Groff should finally be able to add “Tony Winner” to his resume — he has a 3-to-1 lead over his closest competitor, Brian d’Arcy James of “Days of Wine and Roses.” for best actor in a musical category and seems certain to win the trophy. (The survey only covers major artists, so we’ll have to wait until Sunday to see if Radcliffe and the show’s other nominated artist, Lindsay Mendez, also win.)
“Best revival of a play: ‘Appropriate,’ a drama about family secrets”.
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has long been hailed as one of the most talented playwrights of his generation, and although it took a troubling amount of time for a play he wrote to reach Broadway, this one has proven to be a crowd pleaser.
The play “Appropriate” is a surprise-filled drama about three adult siblings who reunite after the death of their father and confront their family’s troubling past. It was staged Off Broadway in 2014 and, in a decision that many voters said they disagreed with, the Tony Awards administration committee deemed the Broadway production a revival because the play has had several productions elsewhere over the past decade. .
Nearly half of the voters I surveyed said they chose “Appropriate” as the best game revival. The balance is split between “Purlie Victorious” and “An Enemy of the People,” making it difficult for one or the other to exceed “Appropriate”.
“Appropriate,” set in Arkansas in 2011, stars Sarah Paulson as the eldest of the reunited siblings, and her fierce performance will earn Paulson her first Tony Award: she has more than twice more support than her closest competitor, Jessica Lange of “Mother Plays.”
Two of the main cast categories are tight.
The competition for best lead actress in a musical is the closest I can remember: It’s a three-way race between Kelli O’Hara of “Days of Wine and Roses,” Maleah Joi Moon of “Hell’s Kitchen” and Maryann Plunkett from “The Notebook,” and any of them could take home the trophy.
Among contenders for best lead actor in a play, Jeremy Strong of “An Enemy of the People” appears to be in the lead, but could be surpassed by Michael Stuhlbarg of “Patriots” or Leslie Odom Jr. of “Purlie Victorious “.